Jharkhand Police on Wednesday arrested a woman working at Missionaries of Charity, charitable trust founded by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, and detained two nuns for allegedly selling the infants born to unwed mothers who give birth to babies at the institution.

Kotwali police station officer in-charge Shyamanand Madal said: “An FIR was lodged under Section 370 of IPC and three persons were detained for questioning. One woman has now been placed under arrest and we have strong evidence against a nun in detention and she too could be arrested soon.”

He added: “The FIR was lodged on the direction of Child Welfare Committee of Ranchi. The matter of a child missing from the institution came to light around a week ago when members of CWC went on a regular inspection to the institute.”

CWC member Pratima Tiwari said, “Missionaries of Charity’s Jail Road chapter gives shelter to unwed mothers who have no place give birth to their babies. In one of our inspection trips to the institution a week ago, we found that one male newborn was missing.”

When the CWC members questioned one of the nuns, she told them that the mother has taken him away. “We contacted the mother and she told us that she does not have the child. We followed this up with institution again. The sisters were baffled by the questioning and called back the UP-based family to whom they had sold the child for Rs 1.2 lakh,” Tiwari said. On Tuesday, the family approached CWC and and told them that the organisation took the money from them as ‘hospital fees’.

Sources said Anima Indwar, a worker at the organisation who has been arrested, confessed that children were being sold to various families and has gave a written list of five mothers whose babies were given away. Tiwari said, “We have a written application from the UP-based family, Anima Indwar and the statement of the woman whose child was sold. We have handed over the papers to the police.”

Social activist Baidnath Kumar said Missionaries of Charity stopped adoptions from their organization across India in October 2015, but their Ranchi-based wing continued to give away children. “If you visit the place, you can find one or two women at the gate enquiring about their children who were born there, but were not handed over to them. I got this information in 2016 and had informed the special branch back then. The organization has one wing in every district and each one of them should be investigated,” he said.

TOI tried to contact Missionaries of Charity’s Jail Road branch till late in the evening but got no response. On getting in touch with the organization’s Hinoo Road chapter, a nun who preferred not to be named, said they had no clue about what was happening at their other centre.